Well, That Came as a Surprise to No One

I skated my 500 time trial this morning, in an attempt to make the now-required qualifying time for the upcoming Roseville American Cup meet. (See previous post for a rant on the subject details).

It came as no surprise to anyone, least of all me, that my three days of "make me a sprinter" workouts didn't, and I failed to make the time.

Actually, not only did I fail to make the time, but my 500 was about a second and a half slower than my 500 last week.  I'm blaming the conditions for the extra slowness, though...between the strong north wind that made two of the three 500 straightaways "into the wind," and the 10 degree temperature at start time (cold ice is slow ice), everyone was slower this week.  And since even last week's slightly faster time was miles away from what I needed, I wasn't surprised to not make the time.  But my 3K went quite well for a second-week-of-the-season effort; my goal was sub 5:30, and I came in at 5:28.  I had struggles with inconsistent lap times (my fifth lap was almost two seconds slower than my seventh and final lap); cascading snot that threatened to choke me and required several mid-race swipes of the glove; watering eyes that almost filled up my glasses; and a zipper on my skinsuit hood that begged to be pulled down just a little bit but which I couldn't get a grip on with my "it's cold out here" insulated gloves.  Between all those challenges and the wind and the slow ice, all in all I was pleased with my 5:28.

I'm still beyond furious with US Speedskating, though (as anyone who has had the misfortune to talk to me at skating this past week can attest).  Not only did they change the rules at some point and fail to make a decent attempt to notify people, they have not responded to my email about the change, which I sent six days ago.  I didn't email to ask to be allowed to skate; merely to ask when the rule change was made and why.  Even if the person I emailed didn't know the answer, I would expect the courtesy of a reply email stating "I don't know but I'll look into it."

So, that's that. I'll help time the upcoming American Cup rather than skating it, and I'll shift my focus, training-wise, to the Masters Single Distance Championships the first weekend in January in Milwaukee.

But I'm still cranky.